England demolish Japan in Autumn Nations farewell to end losing streak

A disappointing calendar year for England has at least ended with a flurry of tries and a healthier-looking outcome. A bucketload of points against a callow Japanese team on a blustery Sunday afternoon, however, does only so much to massage the overall bottom line. Five wins from 12 Tests – with four of the victories having come against Japan twice, Italy and Wales – tells the story of a side who look better when they face inferior opposition.

At least there were some flickers of pre-Christmas promise from the burgundy-clad hosts. There were a brace of tries apiece for England’s hookers Jamie George and Luke Cowan-Dickie while Henry Slade had a quietly excellent game in midfield but New Zealand, Australia and South Africa would all have fancied racking up closer to 80 points.

This was the rugby equivalent of shooting koi carp in a barrel and nowhere near the level of England’s previous November fixtures. An inexperienced Japan side, minus their suspended lock Werner Dearns, were thoroughly outclassed and put up scant resistance in the first 40 minutes prior to a slight second-half upturn. If England could play them every week they would be delighted.

So much for the fanciful theory that a swirling wind could just complicate things slightly. Might Storm Eddie conceivably sweep through Twickenham and cause some unscheduled havoc? The answer was such a resounding ‘no’ that England did not have to operate at much above third gear in the opening 40 minutes.

The home side already had three tries on the board inside the first 23 minutes and would have had a fourth had a tiny knock-on by Jack van Poortvliet not been spotted in the build-up to a well-finished ‘try’ by Tommy Freeman in the right corner. It mattered not, with England so far in front in so many areas it called into question the hosts’ safety-first selection policy.

The starting XV with experimentation kept to a minimum, seemed to have been picked on the basis that England could not afford to lose. As if. Did Tom Curry, in particular have to play in this game? Knocked out against Australia and rushed back for this fixture it did little to suggest England’s management are erring on the side of caution when it comes to player welfare.

At least it helped to swell George’s try balance, the England captain doing his best mole-in-a-hole impression to burrow over for two driven maul scores. On the plus side, too, the finger-tip passing of George Furbank and Slade in the build-up to Ollie Sleightholme’s smart try three minutes before half-time was excellent and a welcome antidote to some of the profligate rugby England have produced this autumn.

Japanese highlights were less conspicuous, the exception being a delicious long-range try finished by their influential scrum-half and captain Naoto Saito after Dylan Riley had surged clear. There were echoes of England’s recently porous defensive efforts but the Brave Blossoms had so little quick ball to work with that it proved a temporary blip.

By the interval it was already 35-7, with Sleightholme’s clever little kick and chase enabling him to equal his father Jon’s tally of England tries in the space of a fortnight. Much sterner Tests lie ahead but the Northampton left winger appears to have the predatory instinct of a modern-day Rory Underwood, which really is high praise.

It would have been nice to see what a few other newcomers could have achieved but the crowd were at least able to cast an eye over Sale’s 20-year-old prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour who was given the last 25 minutes in which to make an impression. Big and strong, he has all the raw ingredients to make a considerable impact over the next decade.

There was also the occasional flash of real skill from England, most notably in the build-up to their sixth try when Slade deft kick to the right corner was brilliantly flicked back behind his back by Freeman for his club colleague George Furbank to score.

With Fin Smith on to partner Harry Randall at half-back and Marcus Smith shifting to full-back the hope was that England would step on the gas in the final stages to a degree they had previous struggled to attain. A rampaging Cowan-Dickie scored England’s seventh try just before the hour mark but it was Japan who struck next, slicing through the home midfield a touch too easily for Kazuki Himeno to finish emphatically.

Cowan-Dickie, though, was not finished and again proved unstoppable from close range before a nice step from Tom Roebuck inflicted further damage. Finally here was an instance of England’s bench making a difference but, as with pretty much everything else, it felt strictly relative.